LIFE IS NOT NECESSARILY MADE BETTER BY INCREASING ITS SPEED.....
M. GANDHIIdiot: Noun, someone who does not agree with me...D. JETT
Setting here on Easter, I thought I would take a nail and jam it thru my foot. It will help me say the following:
A few years ago I wrote rules and suggested that F-1 had to change or die. I cautioned you that taking the advice of those who had “special interests” would get you in trouble. Mostly you took the advice of those who had something to sell you, and we lost our event. Now you get to sit at home and complain about what is wrong with QM.
I recently went to a party and sat with some old F-1 fliers. They patiently and politely told me what was wrong with QM although they had never owned one, much less flown one. I did manage to tell them, after I got thru screaming and calling them idiots, that they could get back to me in two years, after they had bought, built, and flow QM for at least a year. They really are very nice people, but misguided. Their airplanes are not. They don’t have any.
One: Events that don’t change with the times die.
At Phoenix in 1994, the year we tried to demonstrate 15% F-1, a man walked up and told me, “please don’t change F-1”. I asked, “do you fly F-1?", and he said, “heavens no, it costs too much and is too much trouble”. Idiot. No, we are the idiots. He spelled it out pretty well, don’t you think?
Ah, but you say, this is not for everyone. True, but it has to be for someone. I get lonely. And, if you are screaming at me by now, then I will get lonely when you quit.
The screamers I call zealots. You love the event just the way it is, and never want it to change. You are working days and nights, neglecting your family, and spending big bucks. You are making progress and winning some. You are afraid that, if the rules change, you will have to start over. Damn. What are you doing this for? Soon, one Saturday, you will wake up and find that the progress is coming much more slowly and the wins no more often, but the time and big bucks spent just keep on. You will quit and leave me holding the bag, what’s left of it.
I call others big fat Japanese warrior types. You have worked very hard, are good and you win. You have a distinct advantage because of your efforts and don’t want to loose it. You would rather people quit than change the event—it’s not for them anyway.
Two: Events that are too much trouble and cost too much die.
I call it creeping technology. We try very hard to win. We work day and night to get an advantage. The natural result is that the airplanes, engines, and flying skills just get better and better. The amount of effort and time for the new guy to get competitive gets to be years and years. He won’t pay the price—doesn’t have to—because there are lots of other interesting things to do.
Creeping technology kills events. We will spend as much as necessary to win. If a Dago is faster, then we all junk our Polish Sausages and fly Dagos. Second place is the same as losing. Whatever happened to foam wings? Whatever happened to buying a bag of props, instead of making them on CNC mills? Whatever happened to Hayes tanks and wheels, Tru-turn spinners, standard glow plugs, large cheap servos and receivers, wooden push rods, and K&B? Whatever happened to contests with good turnouts?
Creeping technology must be controlled for events to grow and survive. Everyone else does it, haven’t you noticed?
Three: Events that do not have a grass roots entry level event for support, die.
This is certainly a no-brainer. Years ago, when we were fat, dumb and happy, we quit having Q-500 along with the F-1 contests. It was a lot more fun to have F-1 on two whole days. Something did not feel right then and it surely doesn’t feel right now. The decline started about that time.
About 12-15 years ago, Phil Bussell, then NMPRA president made the statement that if we added Q-500 to the list of events at the Nats we could kiss it goodbye. It thought it a strange thing to say at the time. By the early 90’s it seemed even stranger. Now, with attendance down to about 1/2 around the country, I’m not so sure. 428 is not an entry-level event. It is extremely competitive, expensive and a lot of work. It’s fun for the expert pilot.
So what’s the problem? Simple, we do not have the critical mass in the hobby to support all these events at a high level of participation. Look at Q-500. When it was biggest, both QM-15 and F-1 were in major decline. Those in Texas who are serious about QM do not fly Q-500, and vise-versa. If you think you can have growth in QM and 428, while still having time for some fun and relaxation in 424, you have another think coming.
Q-500 must become an event that people can get into and have a good time racing. It must have large enough numbers to attract additional participation (herd effect), and it must be an event that has the general support and participation of the “expert” flyer.
It is total CRAP that 424 should be a nice little, cheap, plain, unattractive, slow, germ plagued, event where we put on our clean little uniforms and go out and help the new guy. When was the last time any of you went out and did charity work? The beginner does not want charity, he wants to have some people to beat, and to get just a little recognition when he does. He wants to think he has a chance to get better and to be able to beat you when he does. It is not a hard concept. It will not happen when you put him off in his own little corner, go fly 428 and ignore him.
Finally:
Something has to change. Either make 428 an event for everyone, or kill QM. You can e-mail and Forum your ass off, but you will never solve the problem otherwise.
A final finally: I am keeping a list of people who are putting out so much crap, trying to scare everyone away from making changes to these events. About two years from now, when you quit, I am going to call you on the phone at about 2:00AM and ask you where the hell you are!
Dub Jett
For those who took the time to read this far: You obviously are not an idiot.
